From the article:
The renovations are set to cost an estimated $450 million, with $225 million coming from private donations.
Memorial Stadium has undergone some renovations here and there dating back to the 1960s, but one of the areas that has remained untouched is the south end of the stadium. The latest plans call for a complete removal and replacement of the south stadium, making it unavailable to fans for at least the entire 2025 season, and quite possible the 2026 season as well. Included in those renovations are a new seating bowl, loading dock area renovations, new restrooms and concessions, and “vertical transportation opportunities” for fans.
The areas on the east and west side of the stadium will get new restrooms, concessions, and chair back seating while the north stadium will be renovated to expand the existing sports performance areas to be used by all other sports outside of football.
With all the changes outlined, the seating inside Memorial Stadium will undergo a reduction, going from room for 90,000 fans to room for 80,000.
For fans, they will get a refurbished menu at concessions, and will benefit from the field level concourse being connected 360 degrees, while the main level concourse will be connected 270 degrees around the stadium.
The article says half the $450M is coming from private donations. It doesn’t explicitly say where the other half is coming from, but I kind of assume the public is on the hook for the balance.
$225M of taxpayer money is indeed a lot, but not unusual. For example, the state of Tennessee is paying $350M to renovate the Liberty Bowl.
That’s my assumption as well. New and renovated stadiums/arenas/etc. Are almost always funded by local taxes, despite the teams/promoters/etc. Who reap all the benefits being rich enough to build their own facilities. They hold communities for ransom and promise trickle-down economic benefits that never materialize.
Lincoln specifically botched this with the new arena a few years back. They raised the property value around it so much that businesses couldn’t afford the rent. At least while I was there, the area was usually half-empty buildings. And the extra sales tax to pay for it hadn’t gone away several years after it supposedly would.
The other 225 is likely loans.
The real irony being most TN taxpayers are not tigers fans in the slightest